Simplicity Parenting

I am reading Kim John Payne's book, Simplicity Parenting.  It is FABULOUS!  It makes so much sense that the typical American family is way too fast paced, and has way too much stuff.  I have tried in the past to fight against too much stuff and a too fast-paced lifestyle with my family, but this book has already inspired me to take it even further.  I'm only on chapter 2, and I have already started getting rid of some of our stuff.  To be honest, I didn't know you could ever have too many books.  I LOVE BOOKS!  But now that I think about it, I realize that we have so many books, that my kids miss out on some of the really good ones, because they don't even see them on the shelf.  So........I'm going to start weeding out the ones that are "twaddle" as they say in homeschooling circles.  Some books just aren't that great........they're silly, or have a bad message, etc.  I have also thrown away 2 large garbage bags worth of junky toys today, and filled several more bags full of stuff that needs to go to Good Will.  I'm a bit of a hoarder and a sentimental slob. I have a really hard time getting rid of stuff from when my children were babies or toddlers.  That time in their lives went by soooooooo fast and I want to hang onto it, but some of the stuff needs to go.  Oh, but I will definitely hang onto some things, the really cute outfits, the sweet baby blankets, the pacifier.........  I'm not totally reformed yet, but it's a start.  :-)

My dream would be to re-create my Dad's childhood for my own children.  He grew up on a farm.  He had 8 siblings.  They had no tv, no car, and VERY few toys.  They were poor, but he has nothing but fond memories and funny stories from his childhood.    There are certain things that I can't control and some that I can, so that is what I will work on.  :-)

Much prayer much power, little prayer little power, no prayer no power

Today is my brother's birthday.  My extended family is praying for him today.  We all stopped at 10:00 to pray for him at the same time.  He desperately needs our prayers.  I know that we don't realize how powerful prayer is.  Here are a couple of stories and quotes that I found on prayer.


“Up in a little town in Maine, things were pretty dead some years ago. The churches were not accomplishing anything. There were a few Godly men in the churches, and they said: 'Here we are, only uneducated laymen; but something must be done in this town. Let us form a praying band. We will all center our prayers on one man. Who shall it be?' They picked out one of the hardest men in town, a hopeless drunkard, and centered all their prayers upon him. In a week, he was converted. They centered their prayers upon the next hardest man in town, and soon he was converted. Then they took up another and another, until within a year, two or three hundred were brought to God, and the fire spread out into all the surrounding country. Definite prayer for those in the prison house of sin is the need of the hour.” Dr. R.A. Torrey



"The true church lives and moves and has its being in prayer." Leonard Ravenhill

 "As is the business of tailors to make clothes and cobblers to make shoes, so it is the business of Christians to pray."  Martin Luther

"Prayer breaks all bars, dissolves all chains, opens all prisons, and widens all straits by which God's saints have been held." E. M. Bounds

 Prayer "is the root, the fountain, the mother of a thousand blessings." Chrysostom



 “One day George Mueller began praying for five of his friends. After many months, one of them came to the Lord. Ten years later, two others were converted. It took 25 years before the fourth man was saved. Mueller persevered in prayer until his death for the fifth friend, and throughout those 52 years he never gave up hoping that he would accept Christ! His faith was rewarded, for soon after Mueller’s funeral the last one was saved.”

Our First Week of School

Clayton's birthday plate.  He got to use it for breakfast on our first day of school. 

Carrington's birthday plate.  We had French Toast.......yum!

I like to write notes to my kids on our board.

Our first Latin lesson.

Clayton dancing and singing to Steve Green's CD

We just finished our first week of school.  It went really well.  We are studying  Rome to the Reformation for History and Bible.  It's My Father's World curriculum.  I really like it so far.  One of the things we'll be learning is how the Bible came together from a book called,  How the Bible Came To Us.  I know it will be fascinating.  I think it will also be neat to learn about what the world was like during the time of Jesus.  Part of the curriculum is to learn two Latin words per week with the book,  English Through the Roots UP.  I really love this book!  It is amazing how many of our words come from Greek and Latin words.

For Language Arts this year, we are doing,  Learning Language Arts Through Literature.  I really LIKE it!  Each lesson is based on a passage from a classic book or from the Bible.  I LOVE classic literature, so this is right up my alley!

For Science, we are doing  Exploring Creation With Anatomy and Physiology.  I know it will be FABULOUS!  I'm a nurse, so this is a fun topic for me.  It is also great because it is based on CREATION Science.  I also love the way it is set up.  For our first experiment, we "mummified" an apple.  We peeled 2 apples.  One is our control apple, and all we did was peel it and put it in a bowl.  The 2nd apple was peeled, and then we covered it in a salt and  baking soda solution.  We have to watch them for a week.  This is great fun for Clayton.

For Math we are doing Saxon Math again.  Math is my least favorite subject to teach, but it must be done so we keep plugging away.  Thankfully Clayton likes Math and is good at it and he is doing his lesson sheets on his own this year.  Hallelujiah!!!!!!!

The other day, I was teaching something to Clayton.  I can't remember what it was, but I was trying to keep his attention, so I was being silly and loud.  Clayton said, "Mommy, you're freaking me out."  ;-)  We had a good laugh.  ,

We ended our first week of school with a cookout at the pool.  Warren brought home hamburgers and all the fixings, and we headed to the pool (while hauling the grill).  We had the pool all to ourselves.  It was very pleasant! 

Today Clayton was being a pill when he was playing a game with Carrington.  I decided we needed to work on his attitude.  I found one of our Steve Green children's CDs and let him listen to it.  The songs are all based on Bible verses, and it is amazing how it can change his attitude really quickly.  I am all for using Christian CDs, books, and movies to influence my children. :-)

 I am also all for reading Christian books, listening to Christian music, and watching Christian movies to help my OWN attitude!  :o)  I am reading a book right now that one of our pastors mentioned.  It is called,  Safely Home  and it is FABULOUS!  It is a fiction book, but it is based on true stories of Christians who are persecuted in China.  Randy Alcorn is the author and he is wonderful!  It is always inspiring to me to read about Christians who have so much faith and persevere under difficult circumstances.  I want to be that kind of Christian.  :-)

Field Trip

The oldest Coca-Cola memoribilia

Robot arm in the bottling display

A couch from the "American Idol" set

Last week we took one last field trip for the summer.  It was fun.  I think my kids' favorite part was the tasting room.  They definitely tasted.  :-)  This is a good time of year to go on fieldtrips.  Schools don't do field trips at the very beginning of the year, so it wasn't too crowded. 

Clayton's Baptism

Clayton got baptized at church this morning.  Warren baptized him, which was really special.  Clayton wore his "Property of Jesus Christ" t-shirt.  Both sets of grandparents came into town for the occasion.  Clayton was really excited.  He said it was fun.  :o)  He's been wanting to get baptized for a while, but we wanted to make sure that he was ready and understood as much as possible.  I am so thankful that Clayton is a Christian, and I pray every day that he will grow up to be a Godly Christian man!  I'm sorry the pictures are so bad!

10 Prayers for my Daughter

Carrington at age 4.

It's 1:00 in the morning, so I can officially say that Carrington is 12 years old.  She was born at 12:57 AM on a Tuesday morning. 

As you can tell by my music, I am feeling very sentimental.  I can't believe how the time has flown by!  I have loved every minute of being Carrington's Mom and I'm looking forward to watching her grow up. 

I love lists, so I thought I would write a list of things I pray for.

1.  I pray that Carrington will always love God with all of her heart, and that she will not be a lukewarm Christian.  (Carrington and I have been praying this for our whole family.)

2.  I pray that Carrington will never go through a time of rebellion.  Of course we can ask God for forgiveness when we mess up, but sometimes the consequences of sin can affect you for the rest of your life. 

3.  I pray that Carrington will marry a Godly Christian man.  This is SO important!  Marriage is hard enough, but it helps so much when you both love God and are trying to live for him.

4.  I pray that Carrington's husband will cherish her.  Men need to be respected, but women need to be loved and cherished. 

5.  I pray that God will bless her with children.  Carrington loves babies and young children, and I know that she will be a great Mommy someday.

6.  I pray that Carrington will always tell the truth, even when it would be easier to lie or cover up something.  Sometimes we do make mistakes, even big ones, but it never makes things better to lie about it or try to cover up our mistake.

7.  I pray that Carrington will always have friends that encourage her in her faith and not drag her down.  It is so much easier for friends to drag a Christian down, than for a Christian to pull non-Christian friends up.

8.  I pray that Carrington will obey God even when it's difficult.

9.  I pray that Carrington will continue to have strong convictions and will always stand up for what is right.  Carrington is pretty black and white about things.  I know that I can trust her not to watch movies or tv shows that aren't good.

10.  I pray that Carrington will challenge herself and strive to do hard things.

Happy Birthday precious girl!  You are a delight to have for a daughter!!

Love,                                             

Mama                            

Carrington's birthday party

Getting ready for a purple party!  I think it's her new favorite color.

Carrington's friends Alex and Aiden

Kelsey and Abby, Carrington's friends since kindergarten

My picture of her other friend, Abby, didn't turn out.

Clayton was very happy to have a friend come over too!

Opening presents.

I had them play one game that was hilarious!

She had sparkler candles on her cake.

Carrington had 5 very sweet girls come over to spend the night for her birthday.  She had a blast with them!  They ate pizza, made jewelry, played games, ate ice cream sundaes, watched a movie, and talked way into the night.  They didn't get very much sleep, but they had a great time.  :o)  I have prayed for sweet Christian friends for my children since they were babies.  I am very thankful for her friends.

Purple Painted Room!

Carrington got a new bedspread for her birthday.

I love ceiling fan pulls!

I'm putting the painting stuff away for awhile now.  :o)

Carrington has been asking me to paint her room for 2 -3 months.  She has always had a pink room and was ready for a change.  She loves her new bedspread and so do I!  It has all of her favorite colors in it.  :o)  Since we are starting school soon, I am trying to get some of these things done.